WASHINGTON, May 8 (UPI) -- A senior U.S. defense official says National Guard troops in Iraq are among the first that will be brought home as the U.S. shrinks its manpower there.
"The Guard will be the first on the off-ramp," said the official, who spoke to The Los Angeles Times on condition of anonymity because the list of units to be deployed is classified.
The Guard reached a high of 50,285 troops deployed to Iraq in March 2005, while now there are 23,000 Guard members.
Michele Flournoy, a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said it was unlikely the Army would use the Guard for major combat operations in the future because training takes too long.
"I think this is well understood in the Pentagon," said Flournoy, who will publish a new report on the future of the National Guard next month. "But there is some concern within the National Guard -- they don't want to be pushed out of the war fight."
